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April busy for emergencies

Three people are heroes after risking their lives saving strangers in what turned out to be a busy month of April for law enforcement and emergency responders.

On the evening of April 17, Valley City High School senior Austin Ross happened upon a rollover accident on the 800 block of Fifth Street Northwest. Ross freed the driver who was restrained by a seatbelt by cutting it with scissors.

“Ross risked his own well-being,” said Valley City Police Sergeant Phil Hatcher in a news release. “The vehicle was still running and the risk of injury to Ross or further injury to the driver was very high. Without the early extraction by Ross, the injury to the driver could have been much worse.”

Two days later on April 19, Jamestown residents Cole Huber and Chelsey Fiebiger were traveling on Interstate 94 west of Valley City and came across a 1989 Chevrolet Celebrity that had driven off the road and into Hobart Lake. Huber and Fiebiger rescued the driver, David Paul Floyd Brown of Jamestown, before the car sunk and rescue crews arrived. Brown was treated at Mercy Hospital in Valley City and taken into custody on suspicion of DUI. Brown also had a passenger in the vehicle.

Other notable events in April include a call from Kathryn on April 30 shortly before 3 a.m. about “drug bunnies” who were “doing Jesse James tricks” and had damaged a vehicle. The Sheriff’s Office will follow up on that case today.

On April 28, a traffic stop resulted in the arrest of a male driver on suspicion of DUI and driving under suspension, and cited for care required and driving on the wrong side of the road.

On the 27th, a two vehicle accident on I-94 resulted in the N.D. Highway Patrol making an arrest for DUI and drug offenses when the driver of a Subaru sedan hit a U.S. Department of Transportation vehicle near the Oriska rest stop.

April 23, a caller reported that a merry-go-round was missing from the Pillsbury City Park, however on Tuesday the Barnes County Sheriff’s Office was said most likely the contractor doing work on the park had removed it to make repairs.

About $25,000 worth of copper wire was stolen from Hi-Line Electric on April 17. The thieves even used the company’s own forklift to steal the wire, which followed a weekend theft of $3,000 worth of copper wire from a city storage area. Copper is a highly valuable scrap metal, and Valley City interim Police Chief Mark McDonald said “Copper, right now, is a very hot commodity for thieves.”

Valley City Police alerted the public about a high risk sex offender, Allan Joseph Cook, who was moving to Valley City on April 11. The next day Cook was arrested on suspicion of giving police a false address.

Also on April 11, a woman from Mt. Sterling, Ohio, told the VCPD that her son received an inappropriate message on his Xbox from a Valley City phone number. She said she “just wanted to report the incident in case the owner is a sex offender sending inappropriate messages to kids.”

A day prior on April 10, a traffic stop resulted to citations for minor in consumption, possession of drug paraphernalia, narcotics possession and open container.

A couple callers reported an argument on April 4 in the AmericInn parking lot in which a female driver purposely rammed her car into a male’s SUV, after which the man chased her in his truck. Police were unable to locate either vehicle.